HRS asks accident commission to examine boat fire

boat fire, oslofjordFire in a boat at Hvitsten. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB scanpix

HRS asks the accident commission to examine the boat fire in Oslofjorden

The main rescue center (HRS) South Norway will ask the accident commission to examine the boat fire at Hvitsten in Oslofjorden on Saturday night. One person is confirmed dead.

 

The police confirmed the death to the newspaper VG.

– We have a confirmed death, Police Officer, Erik Loe, tells the newspaper on Saturday.

A person was picked up from the water seemingly unhurt from the burning boat, but another person was stuck. At 19.36, rescue officials reported that a person was picked up from the sea and was taken care of by health personnel.

Investigation

– HRS South Norway will ask the emergency commission to investigate the fire, says Rescue Leader in HRS, Eirik Valle, to NRK.

– It’s something special that people are stuck under a boat which is on fire, he says.

– We have left it to the police to clarify the process. We detect that the boat was on fire; it burned out and sank just off Hvitsten. The person who got stuck in the boat was released by rescue divers from the fire department before it sank.

Valle says HRS has notified the Norwegian Maritime Directorate, which in turn will contact the Accident Investigation Board for a possible review of the cause of the fire.

Got stuck

The rescue boat ‘Elias’, a Sea King rescue helicopter, divers and a fireboat from Oslo Fire & Rescue Service assisted in the work.

– It is working on site with pick up of a person in the water. There is a person stuck inside the hull under the boat, state unknown, Emergency Rescue Leader, Nils Ole Sunde, in HRS told NTB just before 19:30. Shortly thereafter, they released the victim, but she was declared dead one hour later.

Jumped into the sea

According to VG, there was a woman who was stuck while a man was rescued. The man was picked up by a pleasure boat and put on land after throwing himself into the water when the 45-foot plastic boat started burning.

– The other one has somehow jumped into the sea and got stuck in something, says Sunde.

The rescue leader can not say anything about the reason why it started to burn in the boat. The Cabincruiser began to burn while lying in the sea between Hvitsten in Vestby and Hurum in Buskerud. Late Saturday night, the police would not confirm to NTB whether the deceased is a woman.

– We are still working to alert relatives. We will not be able to go out with more information until Sunday, says Håkon Nilsen, Head of Operations in the Eastern Police District.

It is now confirmed that the deceased indeed is a woman.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today